Boat Review

Wakesurfing is an American invention (read How to Wakesurf, if you haven’t yet caught the craze), and the 2017 Super Air Nautique GS20 is an all-American boat. Built in Orlando, Florida, wake surfing and Nautique boats go together like baseball and Louisville Slugger, or open highways and Harley-Davidson. So it might seem a little strange that our First Look Video of the new GS20 comes to us from a boat show in Dusseldorf, Germany. After watching it however, we’re pretty sure you’ll understand why.

When it comes to tech, units like the Lowrance Elite 9 Ti double your purchasing power. It wasn’t very long ago that you had to spend several thousand dollars to get a unit with a nine-inch screen. It wasn’t too many years back that you had to spend thousands to get a unit with integrated WiFi and/or BlueTooth. It wasn’t so far back that you had to spend thousands to get a CHIRP fishfinder, much less one with side- and down-scanning capabilities, built right into its brain. And to get a unit with all this stuff? You’d be laying out many thousands of dollars.

Tags:

Well! Regal’s new 29 OBX is a trendsetter that capitalizes on the benefits of outboard power. Walking the docks at this year’s Miami International Boat Show, a specific trend among runabouts and small cruisers was evident and undeniable: outboard power. And now take a look at below video for further understanding.

The 2018 414 CC is one apex predator of a fishing boat, the largest ever built by Mako Marine. Remember Mako, the legendary boat builder that used to dominate the center console market? Well, after a somewhat lengthy period of allowing their canyon-capable lineup to go sort of stale—concentrating on smaller fishing boats instead—last year the builder began to blow loose the offshore cobwebs. It introduced the 334 CC, an extremely capable angling machine that was well-received by many.

The 2018 414 CC is one apex predator of a fishing boat, the largest ever built by Mako Marine. And this year Mako went thermonuclear. It launched the 414 CC—the largest boat built in the company’s 50-year history—a fishing machine we just had to take a peek at.

Tags:

Well! Here's our review of the new Sea Ray SLX 400. To be honest, when the new Sea Ray SLX 400 debuted at the 2017 Miami International Boat Show, I was onboard with boats.com Outboard Expert Charles Plueddeman. His thoughts? “This boat is about the floating as much as it is about the boating.” And I agreed—let’s see if you will, too.

Tags:

There was once a time when outboard power was reserved for the likes of fishing boats and center-consoles, but as noted in Outboard Engines on Runabouts; a Match Made in Heaven, that’s been changing. Way back when the noise, smoke, and exposed rigging weren’t dignified, and they might spoil the fun and sophistication of taking guests to dinner on your boat. Thankfully, those days are over, and Cobalt has taken full advantage of outboard power with its new 25SC. And here's our review of the Cobalt 25C. Check out, below.

Tags:

Grady-White has been building fishing outboards with Yamaha for decades and is no stranger to the advantages of Yamaha’s engineering advantages. Swift acceleration, smooth, quiet power, low emissions and a long, reliable running life are properties Grady captured in mating outboards to its transoms.

Traditional fishfinders have been more or less supplanted by CHIRP units, but even CHIRP has its limitations. One of the reasons why is simply size and space; the more you jam-pack into a MFD unit the larger it becomes, and we all want a svelte unit to install at the helm. You can, however, give your fish-finding abilities a shot in the arm by adding a black-box finder which has gobs of power and additional channels. That’s why Simrad has introduced the S5100. Before we dig in and check out the details, let’s take a quick look at the unit in action.